Numerical Resolution of Fluid Dynamic Problems using a Saddle Point Variational Formulation.

Variational methods are useful for finding numerical solutions of differential equations, which are the corresponding Euler-Lagrange equations to the stationary condition of the functional. Usually the functional is a maximum or a minimum with respect to some function, but in some cases the functional is a saddle point. In this work a saddle point variational formulation is proposed to solve fluid dynamic problems, and the saddle point is found through an iterative method using the optimization software GAMS. Two case studies are solved to show the applicability of the proposed method, one for a single fluid in a two dimensional laminar flow in a pipe and another for a one dimensional turbulent flow for gas-liquid column. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]